A Glittering Globular Cluster Discovered in Our Milky Way by the Hubble Telescope

This colorful image of the globular star cluster Terzan 12 is a spectacular example of how dust in space affects starlight coming from background objects. A collection of stars organized in a spherical configuration is known as a globular star cluster. In globular clusters, gravity holds the stars together, with a concentration of more stars in the center. On the periphery of the Milky Way are roughly 150 old globular clusters. These clusters circle the galactic core like bees buzzing around a hive, yet they are located far above and below the galaxy’s pancake-flat plane. This globular cluster is covered in gas and dust that absorb and change the sunlight coming from it because of its placement deep within the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius.

Astronomers frequently struggle to distinguish between the forest and the trees because of how congested space may seem. The globular star cluster Terzan 12 is an excellent illustration. It is a dense beehive of hundreds of thousands of stars crammed close together, like all globular star clusters. Consider it like a snow globe. Shake the globe to simulate the erratic motion of a cluster of stars. The oldest residents of our Milky Way are globular clusters. Some of their burned-out stars are almost as old as the cosmos itself, and they contain aging stars. Even at their old age, globular clusters are active. They revolve around our galaxy’s pancake-flat star disk both above and below.

About Hubble Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.

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